NEW DELHI, July 22 — Indian tax authorities today raided a prominent newspaper and a TV channel that have been critical of the government’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic, triggering accusations of intimidation.Dainik Bhaskarchannel but local media quoted unnamed tax officials as saying they had “conclusive evidence of fraud”.has carried a series of reports on the devastation caused by the pandemic in April and May and criticised the government’s management of the crisis.
At the height of the Covid-19 outbreak, families in India’s north and east gave up the bodies of their loved ones to the river or buried them in shallow graves on its banks, likely unable to afford the cost of funeral pyres. Modi’s government has long been accused of attempting to stifle critical reporting in the world’s biggest democracy, something it denies.Ashok Gehlot, chief minister of the northern state of Rajasthan, said the raids were a brazen attempt to suppress the media.